The ceramic seal p/n 650 370 and oil seal p/n 850 711 fitted on the rotary valve drive shaft are both leaking, letting coolant through to mix with the rotary valve drive oil
Great observation. Crankcase sealer appears in several Rotax manuals using different loctite identification numbers. I would recommend a visit to “rotax-owner.com” where for free you can download the latest manuals and compare loctite products to the historical manuals. As an example I use #598 in Canada, the same product is #5910 for the European market. Depending on your location there will be equivalent numbers to the loctite products listed. Happy Flying!
A very difficult engine to find parts for. The crankshaft bearings are the best quality available from the aftermarket, I made the paper gaskets and copper head gasket by hand, matched the exhaust gasket by size and the carburetor kits are also aftermarket.
did you know that the bing 54 came with different pistons, with a different needle height. i found a second hand 54 and couldn't get the engine to run properly until i discovered that the needle was way too high
All the current Bing 54 carburetor bodies do appear the same outside, however the internal calibration is dependent on the engine application. The Rotax illustrated part catalogue from May 2009 available free at Rotax-owner.com has the calibration list for each engine.
08/23/24.. I'm considering the Rotax 582 for my Challenger ll CWS. I'm trying to learn how to take good care of a 582. Your U-tube presentation was a big help since I have heard the problem you discussed is most important to stay aware of. I have flown rotax 447 and 503 twenty years with very little problems since I'm always doing maintenance a head of schedule. I look forward to your other vides. Thanks.
I believe now you've mixed old oil with new oil because you didn't pull the plug on the opposite side of the engine at the bottom so the engine still has a lot of the old oil in it
Thank you for the comment. You are correct, exactly 15 ml or 1 tablespoon of rotary valve oil will remain on the exhaust side of the chamber as there is a short divider in the bottom of the chamber. I guess the engine could be detached from its mounting or the airframe tilted towards the exhaust side to allow that tablespoon of oil to drain completely out. I believe the remaining 15 ml is approximately 5% of the total refill capacity.
Hello , I am watching your video on 10 percent ethanol gasoline . The E10 sample you show here is clear , is this regular grade ? I operate an ATV / UTV service shop and constantly deal with bad gas . I advise all customers to use only High test gas in the hope that it is ethanol free which it may or may not be . Here in NS regular is yellow and high test is clear which tells you nothing about the ethanol content but tells me what grade customers have been using . If I find yellow gas it is guarantied to have 10 percent ethanol and the clear hopefully pure ???????
Hi Kieth, the clear sample was E10 87 octane and the other yellow sample was neat 91 octane. This was interesting, I just purchased 50 litres of E10 87 that had no ethanol content. I was surprised, tested it twice and still got 0 % ethanol. First time that ever happened. I test every fuel purchase for ethanol %. The food coloring drop in a fuel sample is the fastest way to find out if it’s neat or E10.
The only caveat I would provide is that to do the repair you are actually removing material. Depending on how badly the cylinder head has been cross threaded, isn’t it possible that the repair could result in the plug not being able to be torqued properly? I had a repair done on my 503 by a technician for the same reason and even though I could torque the plug it came out in flight. I ended up replacing the cylinder head.
It actually removes very very little material, it’s more of a realignment of the threads. Torques up perfectly. No issues at all. I do know that if any type of thread replacement sleeve is installed it absolutely will fail and the spark plug will fly out.
The real problem is when you get resistance putting a spark plug in, and just grab a wrench and force it in all the way. Someone who does that, deserves the cost of repairs. Great video as always. Cheers from Winnipeg.
Never seen one of these tools. Volkswagen beatles used to give me spark plug thread problems. I always used a thread chaser in all cylinder holes needed or not before installing new plug just to be safe. This actually straightens the damaged metal. Very cool. Just learned something useful here - not just for rotax either. Cheers. 👍
I remember those cars, I also wish I knew about this tool back then! Mmm I wonder if it had invented yet? I’ll need to check the package for a patent date.
Replacement of the rotary valve oil at 100 hours is recommended. Even clean looking oil will contain extremely small wear particles from the brass gear.
Thanks for the warning. Ethanol does dissolve many plastics but that is not the only problem with fuel that contains ethanol. Ethanol will absorb water from the air and form an ethanol-water solution. If that is exposed to the air it will absorb acetobacter which will convert the ethanol into ethanoic acid. That acid will then react with most common metals like aluminum to form salts. This causes pitting and will leave small crystals where the metal used to be. One way to prevent problems is to drain the fuel completely after every use. The other alternative is to remove the ethanol. If the fuel is agitated with water the ethanol will move into the water. IF the water is then decanted the remaining fuel will be ethanol-free. There is no simple solution to this problem as long as goverments continue to mandate ethanol in the fuel.
@@RotacRepair You are welcome and I think your video is important for engine reliability. It would make sense to ban ethanol-blend fuels for aviation. It is not like an aviator can pull off to the side of a cloud, set the parking brake, and wait for a tow truck to come and tow the aircraft into the shop. It would make more sense to give people the option to buy ethanol-free fuel if that is what they want to use.
Great video John. I have the same tank. Looked good when I got the plane in 2022. Only ran Esso 94 or 91, which then was still ethanol free. By 2023 the ability to find the ethanol free gas was getting harder, and by the end of 2023, I do not think anyone was advertising ethanol free in Ontario, but some may differ. Our local station uses Esso 91, I tested it, and it definately has ethanol. My filler tube had an issue last fall, collapsed on itself. After several attempts to fix I finally Sealed (sealall) it to the filler hose, (which originally was just radiator hose) which was gas rated. Have not had a problem with that since. As for the tank, I do not remember discolouration when I got the bird, but now it has a mottled appearance. I will see if I can find some pics from 2022. I have not noticed a problem with discolouration in the gas, or the filter, but I pulled most of the gas out when it did not fly for a few months. As for carbon buildup, when I pulled the engine for its 150 hour, the piston tops were black, the lower rings locked in solid with carbon, and the upper rings half locked. I wrote that off to 1/ its first 40 hours it ran rich due to the carb needles put on top of the white plastic slide (before I bought it). 2/ my last 1.5 hours running were tethered trying to sort a charging issue with most of that time running at 3k rpm. Perhaps the resin in the fuel was a contributor. We tore the engine down to the crank, and notice no other issues as you described, nothing of note on the piston sides below the rings, and no resin building on the crank or anywhere else. I had ordered a tank in the fall when I had the issue with the neck, but it never did get shipped, and I didnt push it as the replacement likely meant moving the fill point and other hassles. Flying "on condition" keeping an eye on it. Also considering switching to wing tanks. Great video again.
100LL is far more octane than a 503-582 requires, however when I’m on a trip I have occasionally used 100LL. Its very expensive compared to car gas, it kills the spark plugs in 25 hours and dirties up the inside of the engine. On the plus side your fuel tank won’t melt.
So what's the solution here? Do we all buy aluminum tanks from John? What are the thoughts on alcohol resistant gas tank sealers like POR15? Coat the inside of fiberglass tanks with this??
Once all that cleaning and such is done. What 2 stroke oil would be best for engine protection, where the engine has oil injection. I keep getting all sorts of advice from people who I'm sure mean well, but coming from someone who rebuilds engines and knows what does the least damage is my preferred source of information. I do have a feeling that this may be a bit of a controversial topic, kind of like which beer is best for a summer time BBQ. Cheers from Winnipeg.
Controversial is correct! I personally use Castrol Super Snowmobile 2T. I find it has great corrosion resistance, mixes easily with neat gasoline, E10 and 100LL, it’s readily available in my area and is reasonably priced. The 1 litre container part number is 0017442, the 4 litre container part number is 0017431. Everyone is welcome to use their favourite flavour of oil, however when I’m directly asked, this is my recommendation.
Thanks John. Good episode. A couple of questions: What's your take on vapor blasting? I'm not sure what the medium is but I hear good thinks about it! What do you do when the guy before you has not been as diligent and surfaces are scratched up? CHEERS!
I’m not very knowledgeable about Vapor blasting. I’ve seen what I would consider good and poor results, I’m sure it is dependent on the secret recipe of blasting media. It’s interesting to note that the walnut shell will easily remove carbon from the piston dome and ring groves, however it’s gentle enough to not remove the magic marker where I’ve written on the piston skirt. Quite amazing!
If the crankcase sealing surface has been damaged by abrasive cleaning it’s pretty much scrap. While the low areas may initially seal at assembly, there’s a good chance that the unsupported sealer areas could blow out. Then the resulting lean mixture could be fail the engine. The crankshaft bearing crush may also be affected. I wouldn’t risk it, cheaper in the long run not to use a crankcase with damaged sealing surfaces.
